21 January 2016

Manfred Owe, a senior scientist emeritus at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a former chair of the Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology Conference at SPIE Remote Sensing, died 17 January in Baltimore, Maryland. He was 65.

Owe worked as a research hydrologist and senior scientist with the NASA Earth Science Program for 28 years, retiring in 2008. During that time, he was an author or editor of numerous scientific papers published by SPIE and was actively involved in the remote sensing conference.

Antonino Maltese of the University of Palermo, a current chair of the SPIE conference, called Owe a friend, respected colleague and an "extraordinary scientist" who made a considerable contribution to the conference's success for some 10 years. Maltese said a special session on soil moisture will be dedicated to Owe's memory at SPIE Remote Sensing 2016, to be held 26-29 September in Edinburgh. Abstracts of proposed papers are due 28 March.

Owe, who was born in Hamburg, had a PhD from Syracuse University and was a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

A memorial service is planned for 12:30 pm Monday 25 January at the Hardesty Funeral Home in Annapolis, Maryland., followed by burial with honors at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery.